CAMBRIA POLITICO

Rhodri and the tax raising question

Independence, Welsh Politics 3 Responses »

Dec 092009

AN INTERESTING answer from Rhodri Morgan on how the Assembly should fund its programme in his final press briefing before retiring, writes Clive Betts from the Assembly press gallery.

Should the Assembly have tax-raising powers.

The sort of right that almost every democratic body possesses, right down to ecommunity councils.

As he so often does, Rhodri gave us a general tour around the landscape. Particularly when he doesn’t want to answer a question.

On the one hand, it was surely wrong for a body which spends £16bn a year to possess no powers to raise even a penny of that money.

On the other, the German Laender are generally similar to Wales. But they depend entirely on money from central government in Berlin.

Mr Morgan said that light may be shed on the entire issue when the position in Scotland is clarified over the next couple of years.

Mr Morgan said there was a “strong feeling” that, because Scotland possesses such strong powers, “it must be able to raise taxes”.

And of course that is the way that things are going for Edinburgh, with London even thinking of Scotland taking powers over half of the income tax sector.

Mistrust

Welsh Politics 1 Response »

Nov 242009

THE DEPTH of mistrust between the Plaid Cymru side of the coalition and the Labour Party in London was starkly revealed in a sudden explosion earlier today, writes Clive Betts from the press gallery,

The Welsh Labour Party issued a statement at noon on Tuesday from Rhodri Morgan and Peter Hain, Secretary of State for Wales, which was read differently by the two coalition parties.

It is clear that Labour is more cautious on a referendum that Plaid Cymru. Labour fears that a No vote “could set back devolution for several decades”. Of course, some senior figures in Labour have an aim of “setting back devolution for ever”.

Mr Hain has never been one of that group. But he has the unenviable task of trying to keep his party in one piece.

And he must also work within the perameter that most Labour party members give precedence to the London general election, which means that not much will happen until that has been held.

The crucial point raised by Plaid during the Tuesday plenary exchanges is what will happen as far as Assembly decisions are concerned during the January to March period next year, when Plaid hopes that the path will be opened towards the much-needed referendum on extra power s.

And would the referendum they hope to see be held next autumn ?

Mr Morgan said in plenary that was not a matter for him, but for his successor, together with the deputy coalition leader Ieuan Wyn Jones.

Some people say the coalition will break up on this issue. But such people have never been to Ireland, where coalitions are normal.

If we want a touch more information, we will have to listen to Mr Hain tomorrow (Wednesday) , when he is allowed to address the Assembly in plenary.

But, bear in mind, there are two views trying to co-exist within one coalition. The Labour line is that a referendum should not be fought until it is clear it is likely to be won. The Plaid line is that a referendum should be fought as soon as possible.

If it is lost with a Tory government in office, the politics can be engineered so that a second referendum can be tabled which will more easily be won. At least, that is my view.

Of course, with a Tory government in office, the politics can be engineered so that a referendum should quite easily be won.

But, then, Labour doesn’t believe (not officially, anyway) that the Tories will win the next election. Which makes the dynamics of Welsh politics slightly different. Which of course also changes the likelihood of a victory for a Yes campaign.

The Rhodri proof that our press is incompetent

Press and Media, Welsh Politics No Responses »

Oct 022009

NOW THAT all our “evening” newspapers have ceased to be such any more – they all prepare new and print their copies during the night before their publication date – is it about time they tried to catch up with the world ?

With copies on sale as early as the day’s morning newspapers, have any of them thought carefully about what their new daily schedules should mean ?

My guess is they haven’t one iota.

Proof of this is today’s South Wales Argus from Newport, and its treatment of the retirement of Rhodri Morgan as First Minister.

That paper is printed overnight in one of two distant towns in England – which, changes according to the night of the week - and is then freighted in by lorry. Copies should be on sale by daybreak.

That is what happens in much of North America – although my knowledge is limited to southern Ontario, I would be surprised if things are much different in most of the rest of Canada and the United States. The Argus is owned by a United States company.

Along the north shore of Lake Ontario, there is one big city – Ontario, from which are published a clutch of heavyweight mornings. Those papers are on sale in the host of small towns along the lakeside.

But this long string of towns, perhaps 20 or so miles apart, each boasts its own local paper. These are rarely weeklies; instead they are dailies. And almost every one is published in the early morning having been printed at a central printing plant. They run in head-to-head competition with the Toronto mornings.

Are they each on the edge of closure due to the competition ? No, they are each thriving (admittedly, less so this year than last).

In their close geographical proximity to each other, they are rather like our “evening” newspapers in Wales, and indeed in England.

But they are totally unlike their Welsh and British cousins in one way. They are in fact miles ahead.

“Evening” papers in Wales specialise in local news. So do those in Canada; if you want to know what your council or football club decided or did the previous day, you turn to your local daily in Canada to find out.

But they are not so narrow-minded as to halt their interest in everything once they reach the final shop which possesses a sales point, or at the council boundary.

Canadian local dailies will also contain regional, provincial and indeed national news. Perhaps indeed international. All right, the news isn’t brilliant; it’s culled from the wire services. Perhaps, it is a bit livelier than that put out by Press Association, our equivalent.

You may well reply that Britain possesses no provinces or regions – which means little provincial or regional news.

But Wales does. It is called Wales, and it possesses a National Assembly.

Now, true, because of the machinations of Welsh Labour MPs our own little assembly no doubt possesses far fewer powers than the colonial-era institution based in Toronto.

But those powers are growing. Even more important, our li’l ol’ Assembly is getting established. Happenings there are becoming a talking point.

The biggest such talking point is the pending retirement of Rhodri Morgan – a fellow who is certainly extremely well known and important throughout Wales. An announcement was made around noon on Thursday. Far too late for our new-style “evening” papers; their copies would have been all distributed hours before.

But, with their new-style schedules, perfect for the following day’s editions.

So I picked up the Argus in suburban Newport, in the hours after the Western Mail had devoted (according to the BBC news) six pages to the subject. And it had even been on the London news from the BBC.

As the Argus newspaper execs would no doubt boast, the Mail doesn’t sell many copies in their county.

So what did the Argus do to cover such a momentous announcement ? A leading article, certainly. And what else. If the Mule thought it was worth six pages, what did the Argus think ?

About six paragraphs at the bottom of an inside page. After all, Mr Morgan didn’t live in its circulation area. Nor was his office in Newport. So, it wasn’t worth much.

As equally, the Argus isn’t worth much. And the same applies to almost all the Welsh, English and Scottish evening papers. Those papers have changed fundamentally in their publication schedules (some of their staff now work evening, and even overnight, shifts).

But you wouldn’t think anything had changed. No wonder parts of British daily press are dying. Death started from the head, and it’s sinking towards the feet.

St Athan, the Lib Dem dropped brick, and Rhodri’s request for £100m

Welsh Politics No Responses »

Sep 282009

THE WELSH Lib Dems can expect to suffer plenty of embarrassment over their Westminster party’s plan to scrap the £13bn scheme to turn St Athan aerodrome into a giant military training establishment for the entire UK, writes Clive Betts from the Assembly press gallery.

Hardline Nationalists don’t think much of the deal; they regard it as a scam to tie Wales tighter into the UK.

A fair number of non-Nats also have doubts, not least about handing the establishment over to the private enterprise Matrix consortium.

The Welsh Lib Dems have hitherto been supportive of the scheme – possibly primarily because of the 5,000 jobs it will generate. It was revealed at the time that Lib Dem Treasury spokesman Vince Cable announced the plan – intended to cut back on public spending – that the Welsh party had not been consulted beforehand.

Oh dear !

During the opening press conference of the new political term, First Minister identified St Athan as the Welsh equivalent of the two great schemes that will primarily and almost solely help London and the Home Counties – the Olympics and the CrossRail scheme from east and west central London.

Mr Morgan took the chance to tease Mr Cable over his idea – although no doubt far harsher words would be employed were the Lib Dems to have any chance to carry out their ideas.

Fortunately for them, because their British party conference was currently under way, the Lib Dem press briefing was cancelled.

The fact that some Pleidwyr would also be opposed could be ignored. After all, Saunders Lewis and ilk are no longer in charge of the party and the old pacifist views of some are of insignificant importance.

This is an issue where economics and jobs rather than other sorts of politics is supreme.

Its construction links neatly into the strategy being pursued by the Assembly Government to overcome the current economic crisis. In particular, the bid by both Rhodri and Ieuan to get London to advance £100m to be spent as a part of next year’s budget in advance of the date when Cardiff should be given that money.

Apparently, the same happened during the current financial year. And Scotland has made an equivalent bid for next year.

Mr Morgan argues that the reliance of Wales on the construction industry for jobs is a prime driver to his demand. We all know that construction and house-building have been hard hit.

And Mr Morgan argue that Wales may be one of the regions to emerge last from the economic crisis because of its dependence on construction.

Not the best place to be in, being so dependent on brickies. Or the best advert for the computer-savvyness of our population.

Mind you, any country can be attested in so many ways. Mr Morgan boasted about how well Welsh exports are holding up; better than most other “regions” of the UK.

PS. Could Mr Morgan have been so keen on helping brickies because they vote Labour ? Mind you, quite a few observers feel that, come the next election, Mr Morgan and his pals will be discovering that Mr Hodholder and co will no longer be putting their X beside Mr Brown and his lackies

As Mr Hodholder is unlikely to vote Tory in any numbers – whatever the swing to that party – perhaps it is here that Ieuan Wyn Jones and Plaid are hoping for their advance next spring and in 2011 …

Will President Morgan replace the Queen?

Opinion 2 Responses »

Jun 192009

IT SHOULD be an interesting sight, when Western Mail letter-writer Neil Welton ascends to the block erected outside Cardiff Castle, lays his head down, and hears the swish of the axe, before knowing no more as his now-detached head tumbles to the ground.

Why outside Cardiff Castle? Because that is an institution founded by republicans, writes Clive Betts, who usually blogs from the press gallery at the National Assembly.

And what was he found guilty of ?

Attempting to overthrow the current Anglo-German monarchy by ridiculing the Welsh language, a facet of Her Majesty’s realm which she [by the way, does She get a capital S ?] thought sufficiently of to determine that her son attended Aberystwyth University to learn it.

Mr (what, no knighthood yet ?) Welton, you may remember from the Cambria Politico blog, believes that 80 pc of National Assembly members can speak Welsh, which makes it into a Welsh-speakers’ dictatorship, thus ensuring that the Assembly should have no right to any further powers over the Welsh language.

In fact, probably only 31 pc do. A classic example of the Goebbels trick of trying to repeat a lie often enough.

A second crime he is guilty of is mixing the Monarchy with politics. And that’s the worse one.

If he knew anything about the theory of monarchies (those which survive), the two mustn’t mix. To do so is a quick way to overthrow.

But why did he commit this cardinal sin ? Must be because of grave ignorance about the language, through being English.

The monarchy Wales (sorry, but I forgot the capital initial) web site he has set up tells us nothing about where he was born (therefore no obit in The Independent), and says only that he was educated in “England and Wales”, finishing at Cardiff University.

I bet Cardiff Uni was the extent of the Welshness of his education.

Although he splits his life between Llandaff North (what, not Llandaff, or even Radyr ?) and the English capital, he says he is a member of the Church of England. As there’s no Church of England in Wales, that means he spends every Sunday in England, and also that he was baptised over there.

Really, when will these English learn something accurate about the country next door ?

There are signs from his web-site that Mr Welton possesses a sense of humour.

Turning to his link to the Monarchist “blog” (I thought that used to be the title of a magazine, but perhaps it has fallen on hard times), a sense of humour is certainly needed.

Unfortunately, there are some signs in the Monarchist which, if they originate with Mr Welton, indicate he could be extremely anti-Welsh.

The “magazine” contains long lists of supporters of the current Anglo-German regime. Dozens of mini-national flags are displayed from every white country from the former empire. Even Scotland is there. I’m not sure I spotted Ireland (even the Six Counties), although that country must surely be there.

But prominent in its absence was Wales. Only one mini-dragon flag appeared, and that was beside the name of Mr Welton’s equal-mini organisation.

There was no mention of Carlo’s residence in Carmarthenshire (perhaps they couldn’t spell the name).

Perhaps to the Monarchist Wales simply doesn’t exist.

The most intriguing item was a column asking, “Who are the top “British” prime ministers in history. Give marks for style and substance.”

Perhaps a serious questionnaire ? But at the bottom of the column came the simple words, “Do Not Vote for David Lloyd George.”

If Mr Welton is either responsible for those words, or fails to get the rapidly removed, I think we can ask whether he is a closet racialist. That he doesn’t object to any of Ll G’s policies, but to him being Welsh.

Which is another reason to bring that axe down quickish on his kneck.

I suppose we can forgive the Monarchist for its beliefs, and for some of the creeps who write for it. After all, if the English lack a Gorsedd, they no doubt feel the need for a monarchy.

In the view of many in Wales, the Queen does a good job.

If you were a republican, who would you replace her with ? Maggie, the destroyer of industry ? Or would it be with Tony B Liar ?

And for an independent Wales, there’s only one possibility. I’m sure Rhodri Morgan would die laughing.

The biggest headache Mrs Windsor must have to face is surely the Monarchists of her realm. It’s not only that they are such a comic shower. But when they open their mouths, they open them wide enough to swallow the entire English Empire.

And that’s before they start giving their political opinions – which come close to ridiculing anything which is not English. After all, one of the Monarchist’s aims is “to defend the English-speaking peoples”. Someone had better ask them if they have moved beyond the Blue Books of 1847.

Boadicea or Thatcher

Welsh Politics 4 Responses »

Jun 122009

Who is the greatest female politician Britain has produced ? Is it Margaret Thatcher or Boadicea, writes Clive Betts from the National Assembly press gallery ?

The question was posed by First Minister Rhodri Morgan to indicate how the press, public and politicians can easily write off someone who goes on to be an enormous force (he did not say, whether for better or for worse).

The issue arose during a discussion of unemployment rates, and the amount of time it takes for an economy to produce extra jobs in the wake of a slump. We are already hearing reports that the end of the economic depression is at hand.

The economic disaster of the early Thatcher years led to massive unemployment, Mr Morgan reminded us. With the result that her political future was written off. Perhaps, in history, she would justify a footnote, considered the First Minister …

But then, among other things, came the Falklands war.

In the general election which followed, Mrs Thatcher scored a heroic victory. Who then was the greater female politician, Maggie or Boadicea, mused Mr Morgan. The muse was quickly called by an HTV journalist. And which one was it, asked Nick Speed ?

Swift collapse of Mr Morgan, who must have immediately realised the headlines if he went ahead and praised Mrs T. But this was followed by an equally swift rescue by a politician who thinks superbly on his feet. Boadicea might have been “ a blood-thirsty sadist. But at least she was Welsh”.

Or was she ? To the shame of the compilers of the normally authoritative Dictionary of Welsh Biography, she is given no entry. But then she wasn’t a Welsh-speaking nonconformist minister. And no less than the First Minister’s father, Prof T J Morgan, was one of the authors of that work. Although no doubt he was kept to literature, rather than being let loose on pre-medieval history.

It seems as if a couple of decades ago, the queen of the Iceni, the Welsh- ( British-) speaking living in northern East Anglia, was hardly ever given the accolade of being Welsh. ieIt could hardly be because in her revolt against the Romans she sacked Londinium, the eventual capital of England. Most of the current English would be find it hard to consider her Welsh. But then the English harbour some extremely strange ideas about how the British Isle were run, and who lived there, before the Germans (ie. the English, or Anglo-Saxons) arrived.

Visit the prestigious and well-handled Museum of London and you will find it extremely difficult to find any mentions at all about who lived in the South East of England before the Romans arrived. If you are very lucky, you might find the word “Britons” mentioned. But hardly anything about them.

But the English don’t like being reminded that someone lived in the London area before the Germans arrived. And least of all that they possessed any abilities.

And, of course, the idea that Christianity existed in England as a locally-grown force before it was killed off in many areas by those heathen German immigrants is hardly one that you will find in any history books about England. After all, those books are all written by the English. And the English are as nationalist as any other people, which means they boost some elements of their own history, and try to ignore or smother elements which do not fit into their own personal world-view.

But amends have been made in Wales. That truly-nonconformist litterateur Meic Stephens gave her a deserved welcome in his epoch-making Oxford Companion to the Literature of Wales.

Rhodri Morgan and the Balaclava Bounce

Welsh Politics No Responses »

Jun 092009

When Rhodri Morgan came into the press gallery to report on what we all wanted to know about, he was looking downward, and his face was horribly gloomy, writes Clive Betts from the National Assembly press gallery.

A man about to retire knew he had to report on the collapse of his life’s work.

He had never thought that he would have to report that the party he headed had been overtaken by their life-time enemies, the Conservatives.

“It is not a pleasant position to be in,” Mr Morgan told us.

But by the end of the briefing, the First Minister was telling us about the heroic Welsh politician (and a bit more !) Boadicea.

She might be a blood-thirsty sadist, but at least she was Welsh.

Mr Morgan remains at the top of his profession. Later, one of the journalists present challenged the Tories to resurrect the “Rhodri is tired” lie they had tried a year or so ago. Apparently, they have decided not to.

Tory leader Nick Bourne is no way the equal of Mr Morgan. But he also has a sense of history and its significance (even if it is sometimes supplied courtesy David Melding, South Central).

It was Mr Melding who gave the last date when the Tories polled top in Wales. “This is the first time we have been first in Wales since the Balaclava bounce in 1859,” said Mr Bourne.

And at that time, of course, the workers had scarce a single vote.

Mr Morgan was blunt about his own party’s poor performance in the European elections – “We were out-organised and out-fought,” he said.

He did manage to salvage one tiny lesson from the fiasco (my word, not his). At least, warnings that the Tories might win in Wales if Labour voters didn’t bother to vote wouldn’t sound in future like one of the threats that parents use to get their children to go to bed when 8pm arrives …

Mr Morgan dragged out the usual reasons for a bad Labour performance – that Tories always turn out, even when their own government is performing badly, while Labour voters, in such a situation, are likely to sit on their hands.

He also drew a lesson from American president Ronald Reagan. Mr Reagan didn’t see it as his job to manage the government; he employed others to do that.

His job was to think of the “simple messages” which enthused his own supporters to go out and vote.

In comparison, Gordon Brown was more a micro-manager, said the First Minister. He even wondered whether that description applied to himself.

That almost reaches the point that perhaps there was no clear message at the election. That is the claim made by retiring MEP Eluned Morgan. No, that is not the position, emphatically, retorted Mr Morgan.

But, to Ms Morgan’s other claim, the First Minister had nothing but agreement.

“That our machine in Wales is very under-resourced is very right,” he said.

Intriguingly, my home in Caerffili received two different election leaflets, in the same GPO delivery, from the Labour Party, one addressed to the husband, and one to the wife. Perhaps the second address was at the expense of an entire ward somewhere else in the Valleys.

The First Minister managed to pull a couple of spots of light from the gloom. “We did reasonably well in the Valleys,” he said. But then he rounded the picture – “The large majorities you would expect did not really occur – because there is also an opportunity to vote Plaid Cymru in the central valleys.”

Mr Morgan has indeed lighted on one of the enigmas of current Welsh politics. Throughout southern urban old-industrial Wales, there is a massive turning from Labour.

But in Blaenau Gwent and Torfaen, the quitters have not found a single party to turn to. The Lib Dems had hopes, but they have largely not been realised. Ditto Plaid Cymru.

Yet last week, Plaid did reach SECOND position in Blaenau Gwent, even if only fourth in Torfaen.

Why did Labour do so badly in Wales ? Mr Morgan blamed the reducing percentage of the working class and the disappearance of the link with organised labout through the trade unions (65 per cent of the electorate were working class in 1945; only 45 per cent today).

He could have mentioned how much Labour centrally in London was willing to spend on campaigning in Wales compared with what they apparently spent in past decades.

Certainly, in the decades before the Assembly was set up, Transport House in Cardiff would trumpet how the Welsh Labour vote was consistently holding up better than that in the English regions.

Now Wales is suffering more than England. Perhaps because the country had fared better in the past ?

Do True Wales deal only in untruths ?

Welsh Politics 10 Responses »

Oct 132008

There’s a slight smell of 1978 wafting around the Assembly nowadays.

That was the time when the government headed by the MP for Cardiff South East launched a campaign to convince voters to vote-yes to the formation of a Welsh Assembly.

Except that they didn’t really set up a campaign.

And when the battle began, the government didn’t really fight.

Where was the most influential voice who could have turned out, the Prime Minister ? In his flat in the constituency ? More likely in his farm at Ringmer in East Sussex.

During the campaign, he was not the only Labour heavyweight to be notable by his absence.

Currently, someone else is notable by his absence from a Yes campaign. The former MP for Cardiff West, now our First Minister, Rhodri Morgan. Equally absent, it must be quickly said, is his deputy, Plaid Cymru’s Ieuan Wyn Jones.

For most of his year, Lib Dem leader Mike German has been noisily demanding what was happening about launching a Yes campaign. The answer from the fifth floor at Ty Hywel was – let the All-Wales Convention do its work first. Continue reading »

Older Entries

Rhodri and the tax raising question

Mistrust

The Rhodri proof that our press is incompetent

St Athan, the Lib Dem dropped brick, and Rhodri’s request for £100m

Will President Morgan replace the Queen?

Boadicea or Thatcher

Rhodri Morgan and the Balaclava Bounce

Do True Wales deal only in untruths ?

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